OK, copied the images over to imgur.
If some kind soul would confirm the links all work and they are in the right place, that would be helpful. I've put text labels in them, so they should be in the relevant #post number.

Real life has gone quiet, so back to this. I'll try and finish it off fairly quick, and keep it generic.

For a review, have a look at #11 onward, basically about transparency on surface tiles for Orbiter 2010.

Continuing on from #12

.dds files come in various versions.
I've used version 1, 3 and 5. As I understand it version 1 has no Alpha channel, so no transparency.
Versions 3 and 5 have Alpha channels, so can have transparency. The difference is in the resolution of the Alpha channel, 5 has a higher resolution than 3.
The transparency effect on 5 could be more subtle and graduated than 3.